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November 6, 2007 9:44 am
“Downtown ‘81″ is perhaps the seminal film of the East Village scene of the eighties. It stars Jean-Michel Basquiat as a lightly fictionalized version of himself, and follows him on a “Ulysses”-like quest around downtown Manhattan. This week, “Downtown ‘81″ ’s soundtrack is finally getting the release it deserves. Featuring work by mostly forgotten artists such as Kid Creole, James White and the Blacks, DNA, the Plastics, and Basquiat’s band Gray, the compilation stands on its own as a document of the era. Here, screenwriter/co-producer Glenn O’Brien talks about—among other things—the bands he still loves, New Wave nostalgia, Julian Schnabel, and ten-dollar style.
Let’s backtrack. What was the initial inspiration for “Downtown ‘81″?
Elio Fiorucci, who owned the famous fashion store, was fascinated by the New York scene and suggested we make a film about it. I thought it would be corny to make a documentary, so I constructed a very simple story that would enable us to use the bands and personalities we found most interesting.
It took 20 years for the movie to be released. Was it something you’d been working on all along, or was there a specific impetus to finish the film when you did?
I almost got the project going again in the late eighties, but the deal didn’t come off. Then, when I saw Schnabel’s “Basquiat” in 1996, I vowed to do everything I could to finish the film, so people could see what Jean-Michel was really like. A very lively, cool, incredibly talented, and original young guy, and not a confused, depressed protégé of Schnabel’s.
You selected all the music in “Downtown ‘81.” Are there any particular songs or performances that hold up best for you?
I think they all hold up really well. Kid Creole never got the recognition they deserved in the U.S. They had number ones all over the world, but not here. James White was decades ahead of his time and the band he plays with in this film is probably his best, in terms of musicianship. For me, as a performer, at the top of his game James was up there with Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, and James Brown. And DNA represents a sort of avant-garde power pop that has never been surpassed—a possible direction in jazz that wasn’t taken by anyone after them.
Why is the soundtrack only coming out now?
Actually, we released the soundtrack a few years ago, but it fell out of print. The impetus for a re-release was seeing that copies were going for about $150 on eBay. Obviously there was a demand.
You’re GQ’s “Style Guy.” What do you make of the fashion in the film?
Everyone in the film looks great, and they probably paid ten bucks for what they were wearing. There were no designers and yet somehow people looked better than they do now. Can you imagine how we lived without fashion designers? It wasn’t about trends then but about individuality. People had their own looks they put together themselves, not a personality they bought in a store. If something was distressed, that didn’t happen in a factory. I like the way girls wore a lot of makeup back then. They weren’t afraid to act grown up.
Upon its release, a lot of critics talked about “Downtown ‘81″ being a “time capsule” of pre-Giuliani, bad-old-good-days New York. Do you see it that way?
That was something that struck me on seeing the footage almost 20 years later. The amazing physical transformation of the city—from Times Square to 14th Street to the East Village, Alphabet City. Now it looks brilliant and delightful; it was also very tough and dangerous. But that’s all gone. I know Giuliani takes credit for that, for “cleaning up crime,” but it’s all about real estate. Criminals can’t afford to live in Manhattan anymore. And they’re getting priced out of Brooklyn, too.
Do you think a movie like “Downtown ‘81″ could be made in New York today?
Absolutely. I’m thinking about making a sequel that takes place in those clubs where you pay $1,000 for a bottle of vodka and get punched by some rapper’s bodyguard.
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